24.3.15

Sterna Winery | Visiting Cyprus

For so long now I have wanted to visit a vineyard/winery. Our Land Rover Experience day ended with a visit to Sterna Winery in Kathikas village.
Sterna Winery is a small, local, traditional winery. There is a museum in the winery which is a bit...random and although it was interesting we felt it was a bit basic.
However, then came the wine tasting.
We were served bread (I swear it doesn't matter where you go in Cyprus, you are given bread EVERYWHERE!) and the most delicious olives and then poured small glasses of the local wine to try.
Oh my goodness, it was all amazing. I'm usually a fan of sweet wine, mostly Rose or white as my second option. However, we were served the most beautiful red wine I have ever tasted. A really sweet red wine that I could have bought crates of!
We also tried some local made Shnapps, again like the bread it's something we were served pretty much everywhere we went. This one almost made my eyes water but was quite nice, and after trying one the following day at Omodos village which was super strong and a bit chemical tasting I definitely preferred the one sold at Sterna.

Looking at Google this winery seems to have some not very good reviews, with people saying they were forced into buying bottles of wine. We managed to leave without buying any, not because we didn't want to, but because it was all so nice and we were obviously restricted with luggage and also with money (each bottle was around 10Euros). Maybe our experience would have been different if we didn't have our guide with us and had gone independently.

Although I'm glad I was able to visit a winery, and to do a wine tasting, I still want the full experience of walking around a vineyard and seeing more of the wine making process first hand.